Fu Shanhe

Chapter 355 Unprepared
Outside Jiujiang City, the Huguang Allied Forces camp.

"I just received news that the regiment suffered a disastrous defeat on the way to Anqing, and the life and death of the Minister of Tuanlian Bai Yifeng is unknown.

Affected by the defeat of the regiment, the First Town of Jiangxi was forced to make a strategic shift, and the plan to capture Anqing failed.

As soon as Li Mu finished speaking, everyone's faces changed instantly.

The total strength of the regiment and the First Town of Jiangxi is as high as 50,000.

According to the pre-planned plan, even if they could not capture Anqing, it would still be a sharp blade inserted into the heart of the enemy.

Unfortunately, the plan did not change quickly enough, and the military operation that was highly anticipated ended in a disastrous defeat for the regiment.

"Governor, since this is a joint operation between the two armies, why doesn't Jiangxi First Town help?"

Fesund asked unhappily.

No matter how powerful the regiment is, it is still the armed force of Huguang.

You can dislike the regiment troops internally, but you still have to protect them outside.

Right from the start, he put the blame for the battle report on his own army, which made the Governor of Huguang very dissatisfied.

“The regiment’s movement was slow and it failed to meet up with the enemy at the agreed time.

Not only did they miss the best opportunity to capture Anqing, but they also gave the rebels time to deploy their troops, leading to this great defeat.

The war broke out at night, and by the time the First Town in Jiangxi received the news, the battle was already over.

The news was learned from the defeated soldiers of the regiment. The problem of the First Town in Jiangxi needs to be verified after finding them.

However, Bai Yifeng must be held responsible for Anqing's defeat, there is no doubt about that."

Li Yuan replied without changing his expression.

As a leader of the noble family and concurrently the Governor-General of Huguang, he had to take into account the interests of both sides.

If the defeat in Anqing had not been entirely the responsibility of the regiment, he would not have put all the blame on Bai Yifeng.

“Governor, the situation is difficult right now, and His Majesty is under great pressure.

The regiment was just a militia, not the regular army of the imperial court.

There is absolutely no need to report such a small matter to the court and let Your Majesty worry about it."

The governor Ge Ningyuan immediately proposed.

Keeping the secret is a traditional skill of the Dayu officialdom.

Losing tens of thousands of soldiers and generals would be a fatal matter at any time.

When the imperial court held people accountable, no senior officials from Huguang could escape.

Earlier, Fei Songde was in a hurry to defend the regiment army. It was not because he had any friendship with Bai Yifeng, but he was simply trying to shirk responsibility.

After all, Li Yuan was a regent appointed by the previous emperor, and he also had the merit of recovering Huguang.

He will be needed to fight for his life in the next war.

Even if the imperial court holds him accountable, he will not be held responsible for the loss of troops and generals.

If the governor does not take responsibility, then it is likely that the three big men, the governor-general, the provincial governor and the provincial judge, will be in trouble.

In the Dayu Dynasty, there were at least three to five hundred civil servants who could replace them, if not a thousand.

There is no problem at all in letting them take political responsibility.

"I'm afraid it's not a good idea not to report it, right?"

Li Yuan said in a reserved manner.

The people below didn't want to bring the matter to the court, and he didn't want to either.

The biggest feature of the militia is that it has no organizational structure. Neither the Ministry of War nor the Governor's Office has records of how many soldiers there are in the militia.

The only official on the list was Bai Yifeng, the Minister of Miscellaneous Affairs.

It is entirely possible for local government offices to cover up the incident.

“Governor, this is a critical moment.

Once the news of the regiment's defeat spreads, it will inevitably affect the morale of the army.

For the sake of the overall situation, we will suppress this matter for now. It will not be too late to deal with it after we find the Minister of Militia Bai Yifeng.

After all, the militia is a civilian armed force and is not as brave and capable as the official army.

It is possible that the soldiers of the regiment did not want to fight and fled back home halfway. "

Fesund hastily changed his tone.

Since it is entirely my brother's fault, I have to keep the lid on it.

Reporting good news but not bad news has always been the first rule for promotion.

If you can solve it yourself, then don't bother the court.

"That's it!"

"As a minister, you should share the worries of your ruler.

The regiment attacked on its own, and the situation is unclear now, so we will not report to the court for the time being.

After Lord Bai returns and finds out the details, it won’t be too late to deal with it.”

To put it another way, the nature changes directly.

The attack on orders turned into an independent attack, and the responsibility for the defeat was suddenly transferred from the Governor's Office to Bai Yifeng personally.

No one present spoke up for Bai Yifeng.

Just because the lid is temporarily covered doesn’t mean it won’t be exposed in the future.

The current characterization is equivalent to patching in advance.

Everyone spoke with one voice: even if the imperial court investigates in the future, Bai Yifeng will be fully responsible.

A dead Taoist friend is not a poor Taoist.

Everyone is professional when it comes to shirking responsibility.

……

Yangzhou City.

"Uncle, what should we do now?"

Wang Yichen asked anxiously.

The gears of fate turned, and the sudden letter brought the Wang family to the edge of the cliff again.

"The fact that the government troops were able to reach the city of Yangzhou is enough to prove that the current situation on the battlefield is not as good as Wu State has advertised.

We have witnessed with our own eyes how powerful the Yangzhou Camp is.

Although General Qin who led the troops this time is not as good as Marquis of Hanshui, he is also a fierce general.

It would be difficult to stop them with the thousands of defenders in the city.

The power of the Yangzhou Camp in the local area has not been eradicated.

Even if we don't act as an insider, there will be others to help them enter the city.

At that time, my Wang family will be in a passive position.

The imperial court will settle the score later, and I'm afraid the whole family will be wiped out!"

Wang Wenju said in a low voice.

If they had known the situation would develop this way, they should have left with the Yangzhou Camp when it evacuated.

Unfortunately, there is no regret medicine in the world.

Before it happened, no one could have predicted that the Yangzhou Camp would be so glorious.

In just a few years, a marquis and more than twenty generals were born, and the number of their deputy generals, lieutenant generals, and guard commanders was even greater.

Most of the current high-ranking military commanders in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Huguang, and Jiangxi came from the Yangzhou Camp.

The real-life version of Dayu Military Academy, which specializes in training generals for the imperial court.

The Wang family follows the path of civil officials, which seems to have nothing to do with this, but it does not mean that there is no room for development.

After the rebellion, a large number of vacancies appeared in the local area, and all of them were opportunities.

The children of the royal family who have made achievements can be directly recruited as officials.

“Uncle, it is right to support the court.

My royal family has been blessed by the emperor for generations, so we should stand on the side of the court.

Joining the rebels was also to preserve strength and prepare for the court's counterattack.

But after we defected to the rebels, we were not valued and they did not trust us.

It would be quite difficult to open the city gate and welcome the royal army into the city.

If you are not careful, your family will be wiped out.

What's more, we have members of our clan holding official positions in the rebel army.

Once we side with the imperial court, the rebels will be at a disadvantage to them."

Wang Yichen said with a frown.

For the children of aristocratic families, there is no essential difference who becomes emperor.

The first thing he thought about was his family, and the second was his personal future. The imperial court did not even come into play.

In troubled times, they will join whoever is stronger.

If the government troops had not been at the gates of the city, making him realize that the rebels were weak, there would not be any discussion today.

"Some things are destined to require someone to sacrifice. For the continuation of the family, the sacrifice can be you, me, or...

In short, family continuation is the most important thing.

We must take part in this gamble.

Otherwise, when the government troops enter the city to clean up the rebels, our Wang family will not be able to explain ourselves. "

Wang Wenju said with a serious expression.

From the moment they received the letter, they had no choice.

Of course, receiving a letter is better than not receiving any letter.

The government troops are willing to contact the Wang family, which means that their previous relationship with the Yangzhou Camp can still be useful.

The biggest risk is not taking the risk of welcoming the government troops into the city, but being ignored.

As long as we keep in touch, we are still family.

Then the previous act of joining the rebels was politically lurking.

If they don't even receive any letters, it means that they are targets for purge and there is no need to win them over.

"Uncle, we are willing to treat you with sincerity, but the government troops outside the city may not believe us.

The number of people they contact privately should be quite a few.

It's a pity that the other party is unwilling to tell us the specific list, otherwise if we act together, our chances of winning will definitely increase greatly."

Wang Yichen said with a depressed look on his face.

It is right to be cautious. If he is not cautious, he would not dare to cooperate with him.

All contacts are through single lines, so even if the news leaks out, no one will be implicated.

But as the person involved, he still wants to gain more trust.

It is not only a matter of success probability, but also represents the degree of attention received, which will directly affect the distribution of benefits after the war.

“Time reveals a person’s true character.

It will be difficult for us to gain the trust of the court before we make achievements.

After all, when we joined the rebels, we did a lot of dirty and hard work, so it was inevitable that we would be suspected."

Wang Wenjuan said calmly.

The time given by the other party was too tight, and action had to be taken tonight, leaving him no time to weigh the pros and cons.

Either you become one of us, or you become the enemy. It's the ultimate choice.

……

Outside the city of Yangzhou, officers and soldiers were busy setting up camp, without any of the tension before the war.

"Sir General, the news has been passed back, and most families have given positive feedback.

However, two of them did not respond. ”

Qin Tianrui frowned when he heard the news brought by the deputy general.

They didn't receive a reply, either because the situation in the city was tense and they happened to be targeted, so they were unable to pass on the message in time.

Or they think it's good to join the rebels and are not willing to get involved in this mess.

Or maybe he thought he had a strong enough backing and didn't have to worry about being retaliated against by the imperial court later.

Fortunately, we had taken precautions in advance and agreed upon different action times for each family.

If someone were to defect and join the rebels, they would only be able to reveal the time of their own action.

Compared with the aristocratic families in the south of the Yangtze River, the literati families in the north of the Yangtze River are lucky.

When Fu Haoxuan captured Yangzhou, the embryonic form of the Great Wu regime had already been established.

In order to win the support of scholars, he changed his previous practice of massacres and turned to political solicitation.

As long as they were willing to join the rebel army, they would not be slaughtered.

However, the good fortune of a family of literati often also means tragedy for someone.

No matter how you win them over, it will only be effective when they are strong enough.

The government troops approaching the city silently announced to everyone that the rule of Wu was not stable.

When it comes to the survival of the family, everyone can only choose to support the winner.

The lone troop that had penetrated deep into the enemy's territory was mistakenly believed by everyone to be the main force because of unequal information.

After all, the war at this time was not only burning in Yangzhou, but also in the neighboring Suzhou and Xuzhou prefectures.

"According to the original plan, we will capture Yangzhou City tonight."

Qin Tianrui made a prompt decision and issued the order.

The arrow is on the string and must be fired.

In addition to contacting the big families in the city, Yangzhou Camp also has many other arrangements.

Unfortunately, these secret weapons were not handed over to him.

He decided to attack Yangzhou Prefecture on a whim and did not report it to Li Mu in advance.

The two sides had no time to communicate, so these covert means could not be used at all.

Fortunately, Yangzhou is far away from the front line, and the rebels attach importance to it mainly because they are greedy for its financial and tax revenues.

The main forces were fighting on the front lines, and the defenders in the city were mostly second- and third-rate troops and civilian laborers.

……

Time passed minute by minute, and looking at the Yu army camp outside the city, the faces of all Wu officials were unhappy.

“The Pseudo-Dynasty is attacking in a big way, and it seems they want to seize Yangzhou Prefecture in one fell swoop.

Everyone, if you have any solutions, please come up with them as soon as possible!

If we wait too long, it will be too late to take action.”

As soon as the garrison general Liu Laoxu finished speaking, the scene suddenly became noisy.

Since ancient times, people have been discussing this topic in groups of three or four.

"Brother, the enemy is coming too fast, we don't have enough time to clear the fields.

There was no time to recruit the young and strong men outside the city.

If these people fall into the hands of the enemy, there will be great danger.

For now, I'm afraid the only solution is to recruit strong men from the city to defend it while reporting to the court for help."

Liu Laoming said with a serious expression.

They had no idea how the government troops had reached the city.

Before today, the news they received was that the situation was very good.

When the situation was going so well, the government troops suddenly came and attacked. No one could have endured it.

If they had not reacted quickly and closed the city gates in time, Yangzhou might have changed hands by now.

Although they didn't say it, deep down in their hearts, everyone had a bad feeling.

The court's propaganda that the Wu army was "invincible and victorious in every battle" now seems like a joke.

If he was really that powerful, how could he allow the government troops to invade his heartland?

"Ok!"

"Pass the order down, the whole city should be on high alert and not give the enemy any chance to take advantage.

At the same time, we asked the court for help and explained the difficulties we were facing.

The prefectural government is responsible for recruiting young and strong men and pacifying the people in the city."

After hearing Liu Laoxu's order, the Yangzhou prefect standing next to him was so angry that he wanted to curse.

Recruiting young and strong people and appeasing the people may seem simple, but it actually requires great execution ability.

If you are not careful, the orders from above will change their meaning when they reach the lower levels.

Let the police officers carry out the implementation. Not only can they appease the people, but they can also avoid causing public resentment, which is considered an excellent job.

……

At midnight.

Qin Tianrui raised the farewell drink and was busy carrying out the final morale mobilization.

"Raise an army for a thousand days, use it for a while."

"Since ancient times, men of our generation have achieved fame and success on horseback.

Now is your chance!

The military forces in Yangzhou City are scarce, and this is the best time for us to recover our lost territory.

……

Drink this bowl of wine, and I'll see you again in Yangzhou City!"

The emotional speech elevated the atmosphere on the scene.

The eyes of countless soldiers were filled with desire for military merit.

Under the Dayu system, this is the last chance for ordinary people to turn things around.

(End of this chapter)